Review: Destination Truth: Flying Dinosaur & Sloth Monster

Josh with another well-known model Mapinguary.
Image credit TVrage.com.

Although Destination Truth is the third review here, it does deserve credit as the first TV series to investigate the Mapinguary, being aired in 2008, two years before Beast Man and Man V. Monster.

As is the norm for Destination Truth, the first investigation, the Mapinguary, only takes up half the episode before being replaced by another cryptid - this time the African Kongamato. The beginning of the Mapinguary segment sees Josh visiting the famous Mapinguary statue (and some jaguars at a zoo), and the folklorologist who would later be cut from Beast Man. He also interviews David Oren, who tells him about his ground sloth theory. It seems rather rare for Josh to carry out research and interviews before looking for the animal itself, something which changes for the better in this episode.

Josh starts out the investigation itself going to what appears to be the Katiriana reserve (since Geovaldo, the Katiriana who claimed to have shot a Mapinguary, is in the crowd, but doesn't get a very large role). The episode moves on pretty quickly to a night investigation, which is where things start to get interesting, and a great deal more serious.

Josh and his sound man go out into the forest, whilst the other two members of his team stay in one part of the forest. Both groups soon hear what appears to be a large animal crashing about through the undergrowth. This is accomponied by tribal music, perhaps added in afterwards for effect, or perhaps from a nearby village. Still, the music made me feel like maybe the natives were playing a trick on Josh, and the overall situation made me feel like both groups would end up walking into eachother, the noises revealed to be eachother's footsteps.

However, things soon start to heat up again. The stationary team hears, and records, a strange animal noise, whilst Josh finds a number of snapped palm trees. The investigation, unfortunately, ends there, and the team returns to Los Angeles. There, Josh meets Mike Dee, a former zookeeper who examines the sound. He is unable to identify it, and actually expresses belief in the Mapinguary. The episode then moves to the Kongamato, with Josh stating that, just maybe, the Mapinguari exists.